Storm Hawks : Nuclide
by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Bane
Summary: After finding a mysterious yet beautiful metal on a garbage barge Radarr takes the Metal onboard the Condor, but as the Storm Hawks fall Ill Radarr suspects that the 'Metal' may be the cause of there sickness. Finished
1. The Metal

Garbage Barges were probably one of the dirtiest (And dangerous) places to do a little scavenging, but since the Condor had landed almost by fate next to it Radarr had decided to do a little hunting for some 'Buried Treasure'.

Already he had collected the used remains of a Firebolt Crystal, a telescopic sniper sight and a small cluster of nuts and bolts of various sizes. He grunted unhappily at the lack of useful materials, usually Garbage Barges had many interesting things : Maps, Weapons and in some cases intelligence, there was nothing on this particular Barge. But as Radarr slowly crawled over to the opening of the Barge he lifted his ear, a clunk suddenly sounded from his left. Stopping and turning the little creature looked to his left. What he saw almost took his breath away.

A Metal.

Staring at it he wondered what kind of metal it was as he could feel the heat it was emitting flush his fur and he wiped away the sweat from his forehead. Although hot Radarr was not fascinated by its thermal properties but rather by the dull blue glow that it was radiating. It seemed almost unearthly : A lump of Metal giving off a load of heat and light, strange. Yet it was also just what Radarr was looking for. Beautiful in appearance and probably expensive in value he eagerly crawled over to prize it out of the Rubbish.

Placing his paws onto the Metal Radarr let out a startled cry as he saw that the metal had burned the fur on his paws. Snorting in disgust he decided to use the bag he was carrying to remove the Metal. Carefully emptying the Bag and slowly wrapping it around the Metal he quickly prized it out of the ground. Looking at the soft glow from the bag he admired the soft blue that emitted, it provoked a curiosity to Radarr almost one of hidden realms. But before he could ponder his capture he saw the Condor's landing gear retract, frantically Radarr jumped to his feet and scurried over to the Condor before the door closed, not knowing that the door had literally sealed there fate.

Quickly entering the Bridge Radarr walked over to the table slowly. The heat from the Metal was certainly noticeable and yet uncomfortable. Aerrow spotted his little furry friend carrying the blue light in his bag, it was hard to allow curiosity slip away from his mind.

'Hey Radarr, What's that you've got in the Bag?' He said throwing a Smile at Radarr.

Radarr wiped his forehead and jumped up onto the table, slowly he took his bag of his back and emptied its contents. A small metal bar rolled out shoving a blinding heat into the eyes of the Storm Hawks, Finn ducked behind the Bridge's Table but popped his head up fascinated by the Blue Glow.

'What is that?' Said Piper, 'It hardly seems to be metal, maybe its crystal?'

Radarr shook his head and poked the Rod with a small metal stick that he found.

Junko scratched his head and slowly went to poke the rod with his big fingers.

'Yyeowchh!' He yelled as the heat from the rod burnt his fingers. He retracted back rubbing his hand. Aerrow stared at the rod with a look of distaste.

'Maybe we should keep it locked up, nice to look at but I think that it could be potentially harmful' He motioned towards Junko who was still rubbing his hand. 'Piper, do you have a spare box that we can store it in?' Piper nodded 'I have a few old crystal boxes, they should be able to contain its heat, along with anything else that it could be carrying'.

Piper walked to her lab followed by Aerrow, Radarr was also slightly suspicious of the Rod's effects, but his thoughts were interrupted as Junko sneezed heavily, Junko wiped his nose 'Oh, I must be coming down with a cold or something' He sneezed again, 'Yeah Right' thought Radarr 'it's the middle of the Sunny Season'. Piper and Aerrow returned with a Box and Piper's handling pliers. 'Careful' said Aerrow as Piper picked up the rod with the pliers and slowly placed it into the box, shutting the lid firmly she picked it up. 'Um…maybe we should store it in Stork's room, I mean his is most secure.'

Stork lifted an eyebrow, all this time he had been piloting the Condor and had not taken any notice of the mysterious metallic rod but hearing Junko's yell and the suggestion of it being stored in his room yielded his objections. 'Um…maybe I should remind you that certain heat emitting objects often carry a variety of infectious diseases? Wasteland Worms, Borxan Fever, Gamma Proxius and Tritonium Poisoning'

The Storm Hawks stared at Stork in disbelief, Stork shrugged. 'Alright we'll keep it in my room' sighed Piper. Stork drew a breath of relief and walked off to inspect the instruments of the Condor. Piper walked off to place the Box in her room, Junko sneezed again, 'Doesn't the big lug ever get better?' though Radarr. Finn held out a tissue to Junko 'Uh, I think you need an early night Big J, eh?' Junko nodded and they both plodded off to there cabins. Radarr sniffed the air, there was something that was floating around in it, flickering his lips Radarr tasted a slightly subtle sourness from the Air. He ignored it and walked off to Aerrow's room for some sleep, 'Maybe there's more to the Rod than meets the eye?' He thought again.


	2. First Symptomns

The Morning was clear and a blue sky shone bright sunlight into Aerrow's room, Radarr stirred slowly as the sunlight fell upon his eyes. Opening them he was greeted with a blind light, wincing and throwing his paw up into the air to block the light he got up quickly, he stood rubbing his eyes and was startled as Aerrow softly placed his hand on Radarr's Head.

'Morning Buddy, sleep well?' he said quietly. 'Sleep well? Not bad I guess but a little restless.' Radarr thought to himself, he purred as Aerrow stroked his fur. Aerrow coughed hoarsely and Radarr felt his hand suffer a minor spasm, quickly Radarr jumped onto the bed onto Aerrow's chest and run his paw over Aerrow's mouth to soothe the cough. . He looked at the Sky Knight who spoke with a wheezing voice.

'Im fine Radarr' he said quietly. Radarr nodded, but jumping off the bed he held his suspicions, 'Hmm…Junko had been sneezing the night before' he though aloud again. But it was probably just a cold and Radarr eagerly jumped into the Bridge ready to receive Breakfast.

Finn and Piper were the only ones present at the table, Radarr looked puzzled, 'Were was Junko?' he thought. As if to answer his question Piper was the first to break the silence, her voice sounded shaky.

'Junko's Ill, quite severely actually. Finn found him lying in his own vomit this morning, weird. He's in bed now, I think its best we don't disturb him' Finn nodded bluntly, it was worrying to see his best friend ill. Even if he had eaten the last of the chocolate crisp flakes!

Aerrow uncovered himself from his bed and sat up rubbing his head, the sunlight was strong and some of its heat reached his body, but Aerrow ignored it. He was more focussed on why he was coughing so much, maybe the Flu had come over him. Standing up he felt his eyes wobble and he almost fell back onto the bed, 'I don't think this is the Flu' he thought to himself. Walking out of his room to the bridge he stood puzzled as to why Junko was not present. Piper glanced at Aerrow and was startled, vibrantly.

'Aerrow are you alright?' She said quickly standing and walking over to him, he couldn't tell what was wrong until Piper showed him to window to see his reflection. Aerrow Gasped.

His eyes were bloodshot and the skin surrounding them was a blotchy scarlet colour. He touched his eye and winced at the pain he felt when his finger met the skin.

'What happened to you?' said Piper

'I don't know, I felt fine when I went to bed…' He paused 'Maybe it's the Flu?'

Both he and Piper knew that it wasn't, Piper sighed and walked over to the cabinets on the far side of the bridge to fetch the Medical Box. Aerrow looked at Finn, the blond haired Sniper was rubbing his stomach and pushed his cereal bowl away.

'Finn what's up? You never skip Breakfast?'

'I know, but I feel strange…sick a bit really. I'm not hungry' He stood up and went to the door to his room. Aerrow shuddered suspiciously. Radarr on the other hand was getting quite frustrated, Junko and Aerrow were becoming sick and Finn was starting to feel the same way, had they caught some kind of infectious disease? But to add insult to injury Stork walked in carrying with him some sort of device, and to top it all off that device was clicking, rapidly.

Radarr held his ears trying hard to muffle the annoying clicking, Piper was attending to Aerrow softly padding his eye with disinfectant. They both turned to see Stork holding the device. 'Here it comes' Said Piper softly to Aerrow, he smiled at her joke of Stork's Paranoia.

'I'm telling you man this time were all doomed! This device is like a broken record it just keeps going no matter what!'


	3. Page 235

The Device, resembling some sort of box with a dial and tube like object protruding from its bottom was constantly making a loud and annoying click every second. Radarr scorned at its noise.

'Its like a message! A Message Man! And it says were all doomed!!' Stork added. Aerrow was unconvinced by Stork's observation and went back to Piper dealing with his eyes. Radarr however was fascinated with the clicking and although it was painful to listen to Stork had got some logic from his words : It was some sort of message. Inaudible and definitely not Morse code all Radarr could assume that it was some kind of measuring device and obviously telling by its loud and rapid clicking and dial arrow pointing in the 'Red' Zone he knew that it couldn't be good. Radarr pondered the thought but found it impossible to think while listening to the clicking, jumping off he ran down the corridor away from it.

He scratched his furry head, 'What was that thing? A Dosimeter? A Counter? A Measuring Cylinder?' He thought to himself, strangely he had never heard the device clicking before and he had never seen Stork with it. Before he could continue Radarr walked straight into the wall crashing against it, he collapsed backwards and shook himself off, he grunted ironically. But his bump had given a thought of inspiration, a Box, in the hold right next to were Stork kept his usual collection of Weapons, Equipment and Maps for dealing with supernatural or normal threats of unusual diseases, monsters and problems a box was sprawled out its contents empty. Quickly running down to the hold Radarr saw the box and walked over to it, sniffing inside there was definitely a smell of dust, 'Probably from age' Radarr joked, but looking on the box lid he saw a troubling sign. A Trefoil, one black with three blades. It was puzzling to Radarr yet oddly threatening, drawing his head back into the Box he found a book, with a similar trefoils sign printed on its cover. Radarr picked it up, Stork would not be happy with Radarr pinching his book and above all his paranoia would only make him want the book more, slipping it quietly into his backpack Radarr slithered off and waited for night to fall.

The onset of Night was slow and in the midst of it things were not good on the Condor, Aerrow's eyes had not improved despite Piper's careful Medical treatment. Finn had emerged from Junko's room and thrown up obviously sick with whatever Junko had, Piper was also starting to show signs of illness as she had suffered from a small coughing fit and was confined to her room, Stork and Aerrow were the only ones active, Aerrow was finding it hard to see and had started to feel queasy, Stork was more affected with Paranoia and had adopted a Gas Mask and Grade 3 Bio-Suit, he had gone round the Condor with a magnifying glass hoping to identify whatever was causing the sickness but turned up with no results.

Radarr carefully placed the bed covers on Aerrow and yelped softly as Aerrow coughed hoarsely. He stared at his Sky Knight, 'What's wrong? Why is he Sick? Why are they Sick?' he thought to himself, but looking down of the bed he saw the book, he stared back at Aerrow who seemed to be asleep. Radarr jumped off and picked up the book nestling into his basket by Aerrow's bed. 'Maybe this will help, its got too! Why else would Stork keep it in that box?' he thought again. Opening the Book he began to read, it was difficult since Radarr was not totally accustomed to reading books, but he soon found what he thought was interesting. Flicking onto Page 235 he saw the Three Bladed Trefoil that had been painted onto the Box were he had found the book, 'This has Got to help' he thought despairingly, the first few chapters had been about some sort of reactor and weapon both which seemed to be obviously useless to what was happening to the Storm Hawks. Reading down the page he read aloud in his mind.

'Radiation. An intense amount of lethal energy given off by an unstable nuclei created by certain atomic crystals, primarily used as reactor fuel or weapons cores. Radiation is an invisible energy and cannot be detected by means of most instruments and requires a counter or dosimeter to fully acquire the amount of energy, in addition Radiation has mysterious properties not yet understood by leading scientific organisations.' Radarr found this confusing but managed to interpret some off the text, continuing down he found something interesting, and almost scary.

'Radioactivity is highly penetrating and can easily pass through most armoured materials and objects, although it does not physically affect machines or mechanical devices it can cause extremely severe health effects in Human, Blizzarian, Merb and most other species. Health effects inclu…' Radarr was shocked, the next paragraph had been deformed beyond rationality and was unreadable no matter which angle it was looked at. 'Fuck!' Radarr cursed in his head and threw the book onto the floor next to him, although it had given him something useful to go on it still had not explained fully how it was damaging to life, and that was what Radarr needed to know. But the furry sidekick of the Storm Hawks didn't give up, his friends were in danger and he seemed to be the only one not affected, it was all coming down to him. Stork would freak at the words of the book and would most obviously just scream and run off at him reading it, Radarr would have to find out on his own.

But deep in Piper's room the mysterious metal bar confined within the Box was only decaying more and more rapidly, Piper coughed wheezing as she felt the heat of the blue light coming from the box, but it was not heat she was feeling, it was something else, something sinister.


	4. Poisoning

Radarr slowly stirred from his sleep, he softly moved his furry hands stretching out from his basket. But as he did he felt something on his arms, something warm and liquid like. Opening his eyes to see what it was he found that his body was almost all coated in a vile brown liquid, he stared horrified, but before he could begin to even wipe it off a drip off it fell from above. Radarr looked up, and felt his heart stop.

It was Aerrow.

His mouth was wide open leaning on the side of his bed and it was covered in vomit and watery fluid, Radarr screeched and jumped out of the basket, crumpling on the floor he quickly wiped off the sick and looked back at Aerrow, it was almost too gruesome.

Aerrow's skin was faintly burnt and blood was slowly seeping from the burns, his hair was grey and patches off it had clumped off his skull onto the floor, his eyes were closed but Radarr could tell by the burnt eye lids that his eyes were probably swollen as well, and to really make it all worse his breathing was shallow and excruciatingly hoarse. Radarr shrieked in horror and ran straight out of the room heading for Finn's abode. But it was the same there, Radarr stared in awe as he saw Finn sprawled out on the floor in his own vomit a watery liquid seeping from his nose, he was awake but almost incapacitated. Panic-stricken Radarr dashed to Junko's room, the wallop was sitting by his bed eyes blood red and large patches of skin blotchy and swollen he looked at Radarr but was too weak to move or say anything. The pressure was building within Radar, 'What the Fuck is going on!?' he screamed in his mind, but running towards Piper's room he almost fainted. The navigator was sprawled on the floor blood slowly leaking from her mouth, her skin was badly burnt and slowly peeling off parts of her arms and face, she looked up at Radarr and outstretched her hand but fainted before she could see.

Radarr shook violently with panic and ran straight for Piper, but entering her room he too felt the heat emitting from the Box and the blue light covering the walls and ceiling of Piper's room. He ignored it and quickly grabbed Piper's swollen hand, it was sweaty and clammy and above all disgusting to touch but he knew that if he let go it might be too late for her. With all the strength in his body Radarr pulled Piper over to the door and quickly took her out towards the bridge off the ship. Running back to her room he sealed the door, his heart was pounding, 'Its got to be that Rod I found!! It has to be!?' He screamed again in his mind, looking around for something he quickly swiped out a cloth rug and jammed it into the door holes sealing it off hopefully providing some protection against whatever was in there.

Running back towards the bridge Radarr stood shaking, heart pounding. Never in his life had he had to deal with something like this, it was almost beyond comprehension. Radarr was a 'Mission Specialist' not a Medic, he didn't know anything about what was happening to the Storm Hawks. He stood helpless, 'What am I going to do!?' he shouted to himself, he stood staring at Piper. 'Wait a Minute!' He thought 'Where's Stork?'. It was hard to miss a Merb, especially one who is coated in Biological Hazard Protection, but Radarr suspected that it wasn't Biologically related. It took 5 minutes of frantic scurrying around the ship to find Stork curled up in the hold next to the collection of boxes, the device was still with him and clicking loudly and more rapidly than ever. Radarr ran to Stork's side, the Merb was unconscious but Radarr could see through the eyeholes of the Gas Mask that his eyes were swollen just like the others. But instead of standing despairingly Radarr was not looking to take Stork's Protection, he was looking for what Stork held in his hand. A piece of paper, small yet scribbled with text. Radarr yanked it out and read what it said horrified.

It was a copy of the deformed text in the book Radarr had read.

'Health effects include : Bleeding from the Gums, Kidneys and Skin, Localized burns on the Skin (And in some cases external bleeding), hair loss, diarrhoea, indigestion, swollen eyes, fatigue, destruction of lung cavity, haemorrhaging, vomiting and nausea. And in some very (Almost to the point of practical disregard) Radiation Mutations.'

Radarr stood horrified, paralyzed by what he had just read he knew what had happened to the Storm Hawks.

'Radiation Poisoning' he said quietly in his head letting the words echo vibrantly.

But awakening from his horrified stupor he realised that the Storm Hawks were being poisoned, and judging by how sick everyone was getting it was likely that the Condor had also become poisoned, or something like that. Knowing little about Radiation Radarr could only assume that it was the Rod in Piper's room that was giving off the Energy, devising a Plan without Piper or Aerrow was risky especially after they couldn't even lift a finger so Radarr took it onto himself to find out what was happening and how bad it was. Taking the Clicking device he read its dial, the arrow pointed to 2500 STT, Radarr could only assume that it was bad.

But bad would only escalate to worse if Radarr did not do something, the Storm Hawks were in danger and there last hope rested with the small furry creature known to them as Radarr, there lives were in his hands, he would not fail them.

His first task would be to find the source of the Radiation, the Condor had become heavily irradiated and it made differentiating what was the source and what wasn't extremely difficult. Radarr walked slowly around the ship with the device holding the tube out to everything and listening to the clicking and the dial flip back and forth between 2500 STT and 7500+ STT. But reaching the corridor that led to Piper's room the device suddenly started to click extremely rapidly and dial stick fast at 7500+ STT. Radar advanced cautiously down the large metal corridor and lurked slowly as the device clicked, he pointed the tube at the wall of the corridor, no change in clicking or dial movement, he pointed it at the floor and still the same result, then finally Piper's Lab came into view and the cloth stuffed in the doorway of the room was still lodged as Radarr had left it. Gulping in his throat Radarr took out the Gas Mask he had taken from Stork and slowly advanced towards the door, as he reached it the device suddenly stopped clicking and started to squeak frantically and the arrow began to vibrate violently as it tried to push past the 7500+ STT marker. 'Yep, it's the Rod' thought Radarr.

Quickly running back to the bridge he started his next move.


	5. Final Words

Throwing the gas mask aside and clutching the controls Radarr made for the open sky, but it was futile.

Nobody would welcome a heavily irradiated ship especially not one with casualties onboard, the situation looked desperate and it was. But Radarr refused to give up, his negligence had cost the Storm Hawks deeply and Radarr vowed to get them all out of this mess, even if it meant himself dying.

Radarr sighed deeply and flicked the switch on the controls to Auto-pilot on, he walked back to the centre of the bridge and began to think. He was running out of options, every few minutes the ship became more and more contaminated with Radiation, the Storm Hawks conditions worsened and above all there were alone. Radarr slammed his fist down onto the table, 'There's got to be someone who will help!!' he screamed to himself in his mind. As his fist hit the table a small book fell off onto the floor, Radarr glanced over to it not realising that it could be the answer he was looking for. As if by fate it was a communications book listed with all the radio frequencies of every known Terra and Squadron, and Defence Service. Radarr picked up the book and skimmed through the pages, nothing came up that would help, mostly just Squadrons and Terras but flicking to the back he found the frequency for the 'Atmosian Defence Forces : NBC Division'.

Radarr may not be completely in-depth with War but he knew that NBC stood for Nuclear, Biological and Chemical, a flicker of hope came across Radarr's face. If anything this was what he was looking for.

But as he walked over to the Radio studying the book he coughed, Radarr stopped frozen in fear, he felt a small sensation of fizzing in his throat and a queasy murmur slowly emerge from his stomach. He almost fainted, 'SHIT!! IM BEING POISNONED!!' He Shouted to himself.

Frantically he dived over to the Radio holding the Comm.'s book, garbing the Radio transceiver he quickly punched in the Radio Frequency code for the ADF : NBC Division, but as he did he could fell a tingling in his hand, he knew that he was getting worse. Panic stricken he grabbed the radio, but then he fell silent, he knew that the operators on the other end would not be able to make heads or tails of his voice, he didn't speak English! Radarr quivered with fear and destructively rummaged around the Radio Desk for a Morse Code booklet, grabbing it and ignoring the building pain in his hands and arms he began to rapidly punch in the code into the radio as his breathing became heavy.

NBC Defence Post Alpha was a relatively sleepy outpost, nothing much was reported there, yet the radio operator was alert and always responded to calls even if they were simply just low-grade priorities. But today he didn't know that he would receive his most threatening call yet, twisting around with the various controls on the Radio he began to pick up a transmission, it was coded yet easy to understand when you've been through 5 years of ADF training. As the operator wrote down the message he began to grow ever more frustrated with the words that he was jotting down.

Commander Soverman was a high ranking officer in the ADF :NBC Emergency reaction team, he had handled numerous emergencies, from the ion spill on Terra Amazonian to the discovery of Staballoy Fever. The radio burst into his office brandishing a piece of paper.

'Sir! We have a Level Omega Situation! A ship at the co-ordinates 34.564370 Zulu has registered over 9560 STT of Radioactivity and increasing, active casualties are on board with possibly more!'

The Commander didn't panic, it was serious, but he knew what to do. With the swift movement of his finger he pressed down onto the intercom.

'Reaction Team A-Delta, we have a Level Omega Alert, this is not a drill! Mobilise now!' He looked at the Radio operator.

'Relay a message to the ship, tell them were on our way!'

The radio operator nodded and ran back to his desk to send the message.

But the words of the operator fell upon deaf ears.

Radarr.

He had collapsed onto his back and his fur had started to clump together and fall out in pockets, he was breathing heavily trying hard to get the vital oxygen to his lungs as his throat swelled, the pain was excruciating and he whined as it only grew on and on, but as his head flopped he thought that he had failed, not himself but the Storm Hawks.

And as the pain throbbed, the blackness swirled into his eyes.

Reaction Team A-Delta reached the Condor in under a Minute.Radarr was found unconscious in a pool of his own vomit.

The Condor had become too badly irradiated for medical treatment, the Storm Hawks were carried carefully onto a Bridge towards RT A-Delta's ship, all of them hanging on by a thread.

As Radarr's battered, bruised and irradiated body was handle by the men coated in white Bio-Suit's a thought swept through his sub-consciousness.

'Are they dead?'


	6. Guilt

3 Hours Later….

Silence.

The only thing that could be hear in the small glass box that held the Blue Furry Creature that they had found lying in his own stomach contents.

The Doctors of NBC Defence Post Alpha were usually only training for this kind of event, but now that training would be put to the test, especially after they had received 6 casualties, 3 Humans, 1 Merb, 1 Wallop and they Critter they were now treating. A custom for dealing with irradiated casualties was to were a Grade 3 Bio-Suit, but the amount of Radiation that the Storm Hawks had been exposed meant that the Doctors had to walk around in Exo-Suits. Bulky and incredibly clumsy Exo-Suits were more accustomed to Combat that medical situations. But finally there agonising work would pay off.

Radarr's eyes began to flicker open.

'Sir! Phase 1 Alert! He's awake!' Shouted the Doctor encased in the Exo-Suit.

A blinding white light was all that Radarr saw as he awoke, but as his eyes opened wider the whiteness faded and a dull red fog had descended onto his eyes. He whined hoarsely and tried to move his hands, nothing, he couldn't't move he was paralysed. The Radiation Poisoning had sapped every last bit of energy out of him, only his voice remained active.

A pain throbbed through his stomach and lungs and eventually he realised that a long tube had been plugged onto his nose to help him breath, his voice was croaky and it was difficult to talk.

Looking at Radarr from outside the box was disturbing, his fur had completely fallen out in some places, blood has seeped out from his fingers and ears. Swollen skin surrounded his mouth and eyes and above all his eyes were blood red, it had covered his pupils and was slowly covering the rest of his viewing organs.

But one amazing feature stood out from all, something almost abnormal.

He was alive.

The Doctors had imagined that a Radiation Dosage that the Storm Hawks had received would have instantly killed there 'Pet' but it was amazing, he was still alive! True it was that he would require days of constant and dangerous medical care but it was still mind boggling, he had survived.

4 Days later….

The Sun was slowly setting over a Terra North of Atmosia. Radarr was sitting on a ledge of the Terra looking away from the Sun. His arms and legs still hurt from the Burns and Bleeding but he found that he could walk slowly yet effectively to most places. He touched his ears softly, the blood from them had hardened to a slippery crust and it was uncomfortable to touch. He let his hand flop but winced as it fell upon a patch of burnt skin, looking out over the Terra the cool breeze provided a coolant for his fiery emotions that were springing up constantly in his mind.

Behind him a figure sitting in a wheel chair approached.

Aerrow

He was still weak from the Poisoning but his skin had shown signs of beginning to heal and his Hair had started to grow back, but his body was not ready for combat. Its likely it wouldn't be for another few days, maybe weeks.

Radarr lifted an ear and heard Aerrow approach.

'How you doing?' he said softly.

Radarr didn't reply.

'It wasn't your fault Radarr, the Rod was a Metallic Crystal used for Fuel in Reactors, it was improperly disposed. You didn't know that it was dangerous'

Radarr still said nothing.

'But it was!!' He screamed to himself in his mind. 'I took the Rod Onboard! I let the Storm Hawks touch it and examine it! I didn't leave it when I knew that it could be dangerous! I am responsible for everything that happened, and even though You and I don't want to believe that its true.'

A tear rolled from Radarr's eye.

Aerrow sighed, he knew that his furry friend was going to need a little time to come to his senses, turning to leave he spoke his last sentence.

'And you saved us.'

There was any movement from the 'Mission Specialist', Aerrow rolled back into the Outpost doors.

Radarr sobbed, 'I saved us. Yeah, BUT I WOULDN'T NEED TO IF I HAND'T BEEN SO BLUDDEY STUPID!!' He dropped his head into his hands. Guilt was only thing that flourished in his mind.

But somewhere in his head, probably deep in his mind a hint of truth emerged.

'You did save them' it said.


End file.
